Clean Up from Hurricane Helene, Mentor Highlight!

We’re honored to highlight one of our mentors who is not only a huge asset to TMP in Boone, North Carolina, but has been a hero in her community during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, 2024. Her name is Kelly McCoy—she is known in her community as the ‘Rivergirl’—a fisheries biologist and owner of the, Rivergirl Fishing Company.

TMP Lead Mentor, Nils Peterson, reached out to us shortly after the hurricane hit to let us know how devastated the community is, but to also report that he wants to make sure the world knows about the incredible recovery efforts by Kelly.  Nils reported to us:

“For 3 weeks Kelly has spearheaded the recovery effort of her little community of Todd, North Carolina, from her business River Girl Fishing. Todd, NC is a quintessential southern Appalachian town, with a few shops, lots of homes by the river, and farmland by the river. It is a place where time always slows down and where you stop and talk to your neighbors and help them when they need help.

Kelly has been a really good neighbor and friend to her community. Even though her own business was severely damaged, Kelly led a team of volunteers to rally support, fix driveways, clean up the river, muck out homes, and she has provided a place for her community to gather around itself. She was mentioned in a local paper here too: RiverGirl helping to lead recovery efforts in Todd community | Local News | wataugademocrat.com

It has been a great example of having a cause greater than the individual. Kelly is also one of the greatest assets that our project has had. She lets our project use all of her kayaks and canoes to provide the best experience for our mentees—floating down the river, fly fishing together. The fact that all of her gear and canoes we used are damaged or missing, is heartbreaking.”

We would like to give a huge shout out to Kelly for being not only a wonderful mentor for TMP, but also for caring so deeply for others even during her time of distress. If anyone has any kayaks to donate, or monetary support to continue to help Todd, NC re-build, please contact Kelly directly here:

About our Boone, NC Project:

“We’re just devastated. Not only is their loss of life and property, but the places we go to center our minds and fly fish are completely different. The rivers are re-routed in some places and completely blown out. Our project next year will look very different and we know we will all need some time of healing, ” Nils said.

We know fundraising for this project will be difficult during this time of re-building the surrounding communities. If you would like to help Nils and our other Lead Mentor, Wynn Parish, and their team out, please consider donating directly to their project here:

Support Youth in Foster Care in Boone, North Carolina Here!

*Photo Credit, Jon Holloway